Drought to hit 40,000 ha of crops in Indramayu

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Indramayu, West Java

The head of West Java's Indramayu regency irrigation office, Rahardjo, said on Friday that the continuing dry season would seriously affect farming in the 40,000-hectare regency.

He said that water reserves would only last another month.

"If the weather does not change, the water reserves in the Rentang Dam will only last until mid-July. The harvest period, which is expected to come at the end of July, may end in failure," Rahardjo said, referring to a dam located at nearby Majalengka regency.

He added that the volume of water in Cimanuk River, which supplies Rentang Dam in Majalengka, had declined from normal levels of 170 cubic meters per second to 5.6 cubic meters per second.

"Indeed, the water must be distributed to the three regencies of Indramayu, Cirebon and Majalengka itself," he said.

In Indramayu, the supply of water will be used to irrigate 40,000 of the total 65,000 hectares of cultivated land. The remaining 25,000 hectares will be irrigated using water from Jatiluhur Dam in Purwakarta regency.

Head of the Indramayu office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Kusnomo Tamkani, revealed that farmers were worried about potential crop failure.

If there is no rain in the next days, they said, the water reserves will not be enough to sustain irrigation until the harvest season between July and August.

A farmer in the village of Tersana, Kertasemaya subdistrict, in Indramayu, Moch. Nurudin, 43, said local farmers planted paddy last May and expected the harvest season to be between July and August.

"But, the harvest season will only arrive if there is sufficient water," Nurudin said.

Based on the records of the Agriculture office in Indramayu regency, there are now about 7,595 hectares of cultivated land in a critical condition and 17,000 hectares that have been hit by drought.

Severe drought has hit 11 subdistricts in coastal areas of Kroya, Kandanghaur, Gabuswetan, Losarang, Lohbener, Karangampel, Juntinyuat, Krangkeng, Indramayu, Sindang, and Balongan.

"This is the worst drought since the El Nino phenomenon in 1996 and 1997," Kusnomo said.

Rahardjo said that in an attempt to meet the needs of the farmers, his office had outlined the schedule of irrigation since May 23.

He said water was being distributed via two main canals at Sindupraja and Cipelang for the areas to the east and west of Cimanuk River respectively.

Rahardjo emphasized, however, that the schedule was only applicable as long as the water reserves remained available.

If water reserves run dry, he said, he planned to establish wells or ask the Agency for the Technology Assessment and Application (BPPT) to artificially induce clouds to accumulate and rain to fall.

But, the latter alternative is difficult to apply because, "it needs huge amounts of money to create artificial rain," he said.